The 7G transmission

[Just_me]

Originally Posted by cawimmer430

Traditionally, Mercedes has always been "ahead of the game" regarding automatics. In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s when most makes were offering 3-speed automatics, Mercedes offered a 3-speed automatic as well as 4-speed automatic. Then when others were offering 4-speeds, MB offered their famous 5-speed A/T. Now that the competition offers 6-speed A/T's, MB dropped the ball with their 7Gtronic. Can't wait what the future holds in store.

"Yeah, this is my new C220 CDI with the 11Gtronic..."

although SMG and Automatic isnt the same type of gearbox, MB wasnt first with 7 gears.

Correct me if Im wrong but wasnt bmw first with an automatic with six gears, when the new 7-serie was prestented I remember that BMW bragged about it, could be wrong though.

[cawimmer430]

Originally Posted by Just_me

although SMG and Automatic isnt the same type of gearbox, MB wasnt first with 7 gears.

Correct me if Im wrong but wasnt bmw first with an automatic with six gears, when the new 7-serie was prestented I remember that BMW bragged about it, could be wrong though.

MB never made a 6-speed automatic, which is why they were the first to introduce a 7-speed automatic.

[Just_me]

Originally Posted by cawimmer430

MB never made a 6-speed automatic, which is why they were the first to introduce a 7-speed automatic.

Ok,I see

BTw BMW was first with a sequential manual gearbox with 7 gears for road-cars

[cawimmer430]

Originally Posted by Just_me

Ok,I see

BTw BMW was first with a sequential manual gearbox with 7 gears for road-cars

Show off...

[Snake Vargas]

I don't see what's with the apathy or dismissiveness about the 7G-Tronic. There is no disadvantage to having more gears, cost and complexity aside. Sure, you don't 'need' the extra gears, but how does better acceleration and potentially better fuel economy strike you?

The lower gears can be geared even lower for better acceleration. The higher (highest?) gear can be geared higher for better economy when cruising at minimal acceleration (ie. just enough to equal friction and air resistance deceleration). The mid-gears can all be more closely spaced to make driving more smooth and to reduce even further any 'gaps' in accelerative ability.

It's also not only for large engines. Somehow car companies have conned us into thinking that more gears belong on cars with more powerful engines. Instead, they are the engines that can make the most of relatively fewer gears. The torque simply makes up for the acceleration shortfalls of widely spaced gearing. In contrast, smaller and less torquey engines should have more gears to keep them at their best operating rev range more of the time. However, they make us think that it's somehow the largest engines that should have the most gears. It seems to me to be a way of differentiating your lower spec models from the higher spec ones arbitrarily instead of in terms of ability. Though you could argue that they are just widening the gap by making the top models perform even better and sparing unnecessary expense on the worst models.

Furthermore, it's not a matter of '7 gears is too much' - in an automatic, you don't need to worry about that. That's the whole point. However, on a conventional H-gate manual, it is possible you could get confused. So in many ways I think 6 forward speeds is possibly the limit there, in terms of general human abilities.

But, since we're talking about the 7G-Tronic, and as an auto, I think it's a deadset necessity.

[cawimmer430]

Originally Posted by Snake Vargas

I don't see what's with the apathy or dismissiveness about the 7G-Tronic. There is no disadvantage to having more gears, cost and complexity aside. Sure, you don't 'need' the extra gears, but how does better acceleration and potentially better fuel economy strike you?

The lower gears can be geared even lower for better acceleration. The higher (highest?) gear can be geared higher for better economy when cruising at minimal acceleration (ie. just enough to equal friction and air resistance deceleration). The mid-gears can all be more closely spaced to make driving more smooth and to reduce even further any 'gaps' in accelerative ability.

It's also not only for large engines. Somehow car companies have conned us into thinking that more gears belong on cars with more powerful engines. Instead, they are the engines that can make the most of relatively fewer gears. The torque simply makes up for the acceleration shortfalls of widely spaced gearing. In contrast, smaller and less torquey engines should have more gears to keep them at their best operating rev range more of the time. However, they make us think that it's somehow the largest engines that should have the most gears. It seems to me to be a way of differentiating your lower spec models from the higher spec ones arbitrarily instead of in terms of ability. Though you could argue that they are just widening the gap by making the top models perform even better and sparing unnecessary expense on the worst models.

Furthermore, it's not a matter of '7 gears is too much' - in an automatic, you don't need to worry about that. That's the whole point. However, on a conventional H-gate manual, it is possible you could get confused. So in many ways I think 6 forward speeds is possibly the limit there, in terms of general human abilities.

But, since we're talking about the 7G-Tronic, and as an auto, I think it's a deadset necessity.

Well said Snake.

[Alwing]

Originally Posted by monster

The Mercedes 7 speed gearbox has 2 reverse gears as well, does anyone know what is the point of having 2 revers gears?

Aside of the points being mentioned concerning wheather conditions.
It also has an advantage outrunning criminals/mafia/carjackers and cops when you're roadblocked in front or you're being chased in front and need to reverse quickly.

Anyway, 7 gears aren't necessary but it certainly is the best amount of gears according to Mercedes' research.
Lexus is currently developing an 8 gear transmission for their new LS. But according to Mercedes, having more gears than 7 gears wouldn't add much value concerning better, smoother, acceleration and saving fuel consumption.
Anyway, having 7 gears gives alot of advantages. So I'm all for that.

I just hope that Mercedes will keep developing and give all of their current models the 7G-tronic transmission. Currently, the powerful models like the 600 or the AMG's, are just too powerful for the transmission to handle.
Also the prototype CLK DTM 63 AMG (the orange one) performance were restricted. The 63 AMG engine could rev more than the transmission could handle.
And I always keep wondering what if Mercedes did had a 7G-tronic for the E55, would it outrun the M5? Seriously, the M5 has an advantage there despite of the great torque of the E55.

[Merc1]

Very interesting development about Lexus. It isn't like Toyota to play the one-up game. I expect this new tranny to be in the hybrid version of the next LS, the LS600h to be exact. To put 8-speeds in a regular LSxxx would be overkill IMO, something Toyota usually doesn't do.

M

[monster]

I drove around in my parent's E350 and the gearbox was slow to engage R, and it takes a lot of throttle to reverse the car slowly on a flat road. Maybe the gearbox is in the low reverse gear. Is there a way to manually select the 2 reverse gear?

[ALI]

I think the 7G is very necessary . It's part of the smooth and powerfull category . The trany gives the more powerfull feel , that was what I have noticed in my ML350 .